Recent Posts

In my last post I encouraged anyone who has a great idea to take responsibility for their own success by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.

If it is your idea, you need to take the leadership role and drive the idea forward. You can’t just sit and wait for someone to recognize how clever you are and become your champion. So what are you waiting for? Build that prototype, raise those funds, and get that wonderful product or service out into the marketplace. The world needs it!

What’s that? You can’t? You don’t have the time, skill, money and connections?

Well, I’m here to tell you that if you have the passion for your idea, you can acquire all of those critical pieces. But one thing at a time. Today, let’s examine time because that is your most valuable commodity, and it is under your control. All you need to do is act like a kid… a student actually.

Prioritize Like A Student

It is amazing how much a college student can accomplish in a single day. I teach at Villanova University in the College of Engineering, and I have observed the students for years. They have heavy class loads in difficult subjects, lots of homework, several labs each week, and yet they still have time to give back to the community; time to play and root for their teams; they have time for hobbies and time for an active social life. How do they do it? After interviewing scores of students over the years, I’ve found their secret.

They do what they have to do, and after that, they do what they love to do. But most importantly, they are always doing something.

Rest When You’re A Success

Students seem to have boundless energy, and so must you, for your own idea. Yes they are 20 years old and you’re probably not, but it is not just their youth that keeps them in constant motion, it is their sense of time and place. The students instinctively recognize that college is a short and wondrous period of time in their lives. They know they need to take advantage of every second and they do. “Don’t you ever rest?” I ask, and the answer that comes back the most is “I’ll rest after I graduate.”

It’s the same with your great idea. Rest once you are a success. You must recognize that this is a special time in your life. You have an idea that can change things forever; so you need to find the energy and time to devote to your idea -- now. Even if it takes as much time as a college degree to achieve your success, it is not a pace you need to maintain forever. You won’t burn out. Kick your life into high gear and rest after you’re across the finish line.

Love What You Are Doing

It is critical that you have excitement and interest in your own idea. If you absolutely love your idea, you will naturally find the time to work on it. On campus, when class is over, I know which students can always be found in the school’s garage working on a competition car; which will be huddled together working on their phone app prototype, and which students will be the first to sign up for a service trip. They are in control of their time because they love what they are doing and they make the time to do it.

And so must you. Love your idea and you will happily get up an hour early; you won’t even think about turning on the TV; you’ll skip the Facebook updates and head down to the basement to work, because you know it is fun, exciting and something you love doing.

Do The “Must Do’s”

Even if you have lots of energy and love for your idea, there will probably be many tasks on the way to success that you may not enjoy. It will be more difficult to find the time for those tasks. But if you take on the student mindset; you’ll put your head down and do the hard work needed to graduate, because you have to do those “must do” tasks. Students don’t love every subject, every teacher and every assignment, but they do the work because it is required. And to achieve your success you must regularly work on all of the tasks, not just the fun ones.

Students are in a fairly structured environment; so it is pretty clear to them what they must do and when their work needs to be accomplished. To find the time for your idea, be just like a student and set up a schedule that will address all that you need to accomplish to make your idea a success: establish regular times to do the hard work; create specific assignments for yourself, and lay down a firm but realistic schedule of deliverables. That’s what you did back in school; and you can do it now too.

Most importantly, be determined to have your tasks completed on time. No excuses. My students simply cannot hand in their work late, and neither should you.

But don’t feel down, while some of these “must do” tasks might be difficult, if you love your idea, most of what you will need to accomplish will be a pleasure.

To recap, use the student lifestyle to help you find the time to work on your idea: do what you must, love what you do and gather the energy you need to achieve your goals – you can rest later.

Now that you have “time” mastered, it only gets easier from here. Next post we’ll talk about how you can acquire the skills you need to turn any idea into a reality.